Takashi Toritani

Career Stats:

Brief Biography:

Takashi Toritani is the firstborn of three brothers, all of whom went on to the same high school as baseball players. He played baseball from a young age, but also excelled at judo, winning his city’s tournament and advancing to the Tokyo tournament quarter-finals. Originally left-handed, Toritani was “corrected” as a child, and though he batted righty for awhile, one of his coaches switched him back to hitting left. Toritani grew up as a fan of the Seibu Lions, and admired Koji Akiyama.

Though he hadn’t intended on playing baseball beyond junior high, Toritani eventually joined the team at Seibo Gakuen High School, earning time at second base from his first year. He would also star on the team that advanced to the Koshien Summer Tournament, playing shortstop and pitcher.

Hoping to be chosen by the Lions, Toritani entered the 1999 draft, but was not selected by any club. As a result, he entered Waseda University, where he became the full-time shortstop right from his first year. He starred alongside teammate Norichika Aoki (Tokyo Yakult Swallows, etc.) and Waseda won four straight tournaments. Toritani was named to the Best Nine team five times, won a Triple Crown, won the batting title, drew the most walks, and finished second overall in Waseda history in many major categories. The 2003 NPB Draft featured a “free selection” spot, which meant upper echelon players could choose to sign with whomever they wanted. Toritani chose to sign with the Hanshin Tigers, despite interest from multiple teams (including his favorite Lions). His reasoning was that he did not want to be known as a player who chased money, and he wanted to play on a natural surface as well.

Toritani’s rookie season (2004) started with a bang. He made the top squad Opening Day roster and started at shortstop, batting seventh and collecting his first career hit in his fourth career at bat. He struggled soon after that, and got very little playing time in the remainder of the first half. However, after returning from the Athens Olympics, he regained the starting role at short, and posted solid numbers.

The start of the 2005 was the start of Toritani’s reign as ironman shortstop. He played in every game (the streak reached 1895 games at the conclusion of the 2017 season), played in his first All-Star Game, and hit two walk-off home runs, helping the team win its second pennant in three years. That offseason, he got married to his high school baseball club’s record-keeper.

In 2006, Toritani started to gain a reputation as an ironman, playing every inning of every game, and also as a clutch hitter. That streak continued long enough (398 games – streak ended in September 2007) to establish a new record for consecutive full games played by a shortstop. Once again in 2008, he played every inning of every game. He also showed great improvement at shortstop, and recorded a personal-best 80 RBIs (due in part to hitting 3rd and 5th in the order for part of the season). He collected his first ever Best Nine selection in 2008, and his wife gave birth to their second son late that season.

In 2009, Toritani was far and away the club’s best hitter, leading the team in hits, runs, average, and slugging percentage. He also set a franchise record for best fielding percentage by a shortstop (.990). Highlights of the 2010 season included batting .422 in August (winning the CL Player of the Month), becoming the first shortstop in NPB history to collect 100 RBIs, and recording his 1000th career hit. But on the personal side, his highlight would undoubtedly have to be the birth of his first daughter in early July.

At long last in 2011, Toritani picked up his first hardware as best defensive shortstop in the CL. He bested his own fielding percentage record (.991) and was chosen to the All-CL team at season’s end. He led the Central in triples, walks and on-base percentage. He held onto the title on the latter in 2012 as well. Though he professed an interest in moving on to the majors (he became international free agent eligible in the 2012 offseason), he signed back on with the Tigers.

The next spring, he played on the 2013 Samurai Japan team in the World Baseball Classic. He was the club’s regular second baseman, and his biggest accomplishment was earning a walk, stealing a base, and scoring the tying run in an eventual 4-3 win over Chinese Taipei in the second round. He also hit a leadoff home run the next game, and scored the nation’s lone run in the finals against Puerto Rico. Back with the Tigers, he set a new club record for consecutive games reaching base safely (47 – good for third in NPB history), and reached triple digits in walks (104) for the first time ever as well.

In what could have been his last season in Japan, Toritani recorded a career-best .313 average and .406 on-base percentage. He also became the fastest (youngest) player in club history to reach 1500 career hits (32 years, 11 months). He expressed a strong interest in heading to the majors, even hiring agent Scott Boras, but when the best he got was a single-year, second base offer, he had a change of heart. He announced his return to Hanshin on January 9, 2015.

Toritani’s numbers dropped off fairly significantly in 2015, but he still made the All-Star team, and was given hardware (Best Nine, Golden Glove) at season’s end. Still, when Tomoaki Kanemoto was appointed new manager at the end of the year, he called his captain into the office and said, “All your numbers need improving. If you don’t change, neither will the team.” Somehow those words had a reverse effect on Toritani, who had his worst season as a professional in 2016. Not only did he finish the year with a poor average, but he collected a lot of errors, and eventually lost the shortstop position. On July 24, he was not in the starting lineup for the first time since the end of the 2011 season. He ultimately was pushed over to third base, where he finished the season. His ironman streak was still intact (though it was threatened by a near rainout on September 30), but his consecutive innings streak (second in NPB history) came at 667. (His manager holds the record with 1492 straight full games.)

At the start of the 2017 season, Toritani was once again pushed to the brink by his manager, who said that even if he was twice as good as teammate Fumiya Hojoh at short, he still would not win the position back. So he started the year at third base, and made a strong comeback at the plate. All of his numbers trended upwards, and even exceeded his 2015 stats. On April 19, Toritani moved into second place all-time for consecutive games played, with 1767. On May 24 against the Giants, Toritani nearly had his nose taken off by a fastball. Despite a broken nose, he kept his ironman streak going, pinch hitting for a couple of games with a black protective mask over his face. The (current) crowning achievement of Toritani’s career came on September 8 (at Koshien vs. Yokohama DeNA BayStars) when he got his 2000th career hit in the second inning. He ended the season with his 1000th career walk as well.

During spring training in 2018, Toritani was once again given a new position. In order to make room for the upcoming Yusuke Ohyama, Toritani was moved to second base. The experiment did not last long, though, as he found himself on the bench for much of the year. In fact, his ironman streak was put to an end at 1939 games on May 29th against the SoftBank Hawks. Despite limited playing time, Toritani set a new mark for career hits in a Tigers uniform on October 4 against the Yakult Swallows, delivering an RBI single up the middle for his 2065th career hit.

Though the 2019 season started off extremely well for Toritani – he hit an extra-innings triple that led to a walk-off win on Opening Day – he posted career lows in all categories, and needed until September to get his first RBI of the year and to bring his average over .200 – by which point his release  had already been announced by the club. Despite his hard work ethic and positive influence on teammates, the team left him out of their plans for 2020 and beyond, and ultimately he was forced to look for employment elsewhere. On March 10, 2020, the Chiba Lotte Marines announced that they had signed Toritani to a contract.

He leaves Hanshin with the club records for games played and hits. Those records, as well as his legacy as ironman and hero, will remain in the hearts of Tigers fans for decades.

Related Articles:

Toritani Signs With Chiba Lotte Marines (March 11, 2020)

Players Make History, Team Misses Playoffs (October 4, 2018)

Vodcast 07 – Toritani Streak Over! (May 30, 2018)

Big Changes for Toritani by Mid-June? (May 28, 2018)

Toritani – Hall of Famer? Retired Number? (March 12, 2018)

Toritani Reaches 2000 Hit Milestone (September 11, 2017)

Toritani’s Kids Know Daddy’s Strong (June 7, 2017)

Toritani NPB’s 2nd Greatest Ironman Ever (April 19, 2017)

Toritani’s Full Innings Streak Ends (July 26, 2016)

To End an Ironman Streak… (May 13, 2016)

New Manager Kanemoto Tears into Toritani (October 22, 2015)

Toritani’s Ironman Streak ‘Welcomed’ by CL Scouts (July 3, 2015)

Toritani Contract Details (January 10, 2015)

Toritani Gives Up MLB Dream, Re-Signs with Tigers (January 9, 2015)

Blue Jays Make Toritani a Formal Offer (December 24, 2014)

Blue Jays Reportedly Interested in Toritani at 2B (December 10, 2014)

Toritani Headed to the Royals? (September 2, 2014)